Organising a house party

We’ve never had the space available to entertain family and friends in our home, living in a small terraced house has meant that birthday celebrations, Christmas get-together and BBQ’s have always been held somewhere else. This year, however, will be different. We have moved to a larger home that gives us the space to have everyone over and finally has the chance to repay all those BBQ’s, parties and buffets that we have attended over the years.

House party or function room?

With Piglet’s Christening this year too I’ve wondered whether we should hold a party at home instead of paying out for room hire, entertainer and buffet in a function room somewhere. We are lucky enough to have a fairly large garden which we could decorate with bunting, streamers and homemade decorations. I’d need to find some more chairs for everyone to sit on outside, either that or I could pop the kids bean bags and some large picnic blankets down so the kids could eat and play as the want.

All the mess

The thought of inviting so many people over doesn’t scare me, although the thought of all the clearing up afterwards is daunting so I’m thinking that using disposable plates, cups and trays where possible along with having a few bins available might cut down on the post-party clear up.

Cake, cake, cake

For Roo and Tigger, I ordered their Christening cake from Marks and Spencers (as we did with our own wedding cake) so I will be doing that again for Piglet, however, I’m going to add some cupcakes for the children to enjoy as they seem to like those better than a slice of cake. I’ve also taken a look at the range of pre-made buffet platters that you can buy and I might cheat and buy a couple of those especially for things that might take a bit of time to prepare to save myself having to be in the kitchen all day.

Party games

I’m sure that Mr Boo can whip up a playlist on iTunes for us all to enjoy and I’m going to leave Roo in charge of the little kiddies party games as she loves to take them in hand and organise them. I can see a range of obstacle races, pass the parcel and the balloon baboon game all happening.

I’m sure that there is something obvious that I’ve missed but can’t for the life of me remember what it is – any ideas?